Henry bird



HENRY BIRD, OF PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND.

PROCE SS OF MANUFACTURING PURPLE-ORE BRICKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 490,535, dated January24, 1893.

Application filed. April 2, 1892. Serial No.427,571. (No specimens.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY BIRD,a subject of the Queen of Great Britainand Ireland, residing at Plymouth, in the county of Devon,

. England, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Process ofManufacturing Purple-Ore Bricks, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has mainly for its object the production of bricks orblocks of purple ore resulting from the common process of the extractionof the copper contained in burned cupreous sulphur ores by the wetmethod, or from other Washed cupreous sulphur ores, or equivalent oresand which shall be suitable for use in blast and other furnaces for theproduction of iron; and also for other purposes as bricks or blocks.

According to this invention the ore is ground in a mill, the conditionin which it is thrown into the mill, although it usually contains acertain proportion of water, being apparently dry and sandy. I havefound, however, when it is under the action of rolls, and being ground,it becomes wetter and wetter in appearance and eventually is brought tothe state of a slurry. The ore, as freshly thrown out of the tanks atthe copper works, usually contains too much moisture, but after standingfor about twenty-four hours it mostly contains the required amount ofwater and this is the state in which it is usually sold to iron works;but in some cases in dry weather it may become desirable to add a littlewater in the mill to bring the ore into a state of slurry. The slurryproduced as above described is run or tipped into molds, and heated, sayupon a hot floor. When the material has set sufficiently hard to allowof the molds being removed, the bricks or blocks may be turned on theirsides to facilitate their drying. By this drying, the bricks'or blockswill become sufficiently hard to bear handling. They are then kilned ina kiln. They may be first subjected to a gentle heat to drive off theremaining moisture, after which the temperature is increased until theyare white hot or of a bright red, at which they are kept for, say abouttwenty to thirty hours. They are left to soak for about forty-six hours,and then allowed to cool slowly. When cool they will be found more orless hard according to the temperature to which they have beensubjected, and

the degree of fineness to which the ore has 7 been ground.

In carrying the invention into eifect the purple ore as it is usuallysold or supplied containing from about fifteen to seventeen per cent. ofmoisture is first ground, in which operation it becomes wetter andwetter until it is brought to the state of a slurry. When in thiscondition it is run out into wagons or trucks of a suitable size, andthese trucks or wagons are then taken to the molds upon a drying floor,and the slurry is tipped out of them into the molds. When the materialhas set sufficiently hard to allow of the molds being removed, they areremoved by lifting upward at each end, and the bricks or blocks are thenturned on their sides on the drying floor, and there dried for such alength of time as will render'them sufficiently hard to bear handling.

The next stage in the process of manufacure is the kilning. In theoperation according to one mode of carrying out the invention, thebricks or blocks being piled or stowed in a kiln, and are dried forabout twenty-four hours by slow firing; or, by passing through the kilnthe hot waste gases coming from another kil-n under full heat andfiring. After this, full firingin the kiln takes place, and the bricksor blocks are subject to a high temperature for about forty-sixhours,making a total of aboutseventy hours drying and firing in the kiln andthis I find to be a very suitable duration of treatment when using thekind of kiln shown. Then after this the burned bricks or blocks areallowed to soak in the kilns for about another twentyfour hours, thesoaking being effected by bricking up the fire-grates. After thistreatment the bricks or blocks are cooled down (and this is done bylettingairinto kiln),and may then be taken out of the kiln and are thenready for use for making iron in blast furnaces or other furnaces or forother purposes for which they may be suitable.

The blocks or bricks produced by these treatments are thoroughly soundand hard, and not liable to break up or crumble.

Sometimes in very hot weather say, when the ore before treatment hasbeen exposed to hot sun or otherwise heated, it may not conwhen beingground, to make up the deficiency.

The quantity suitable for the purpose of this invention which the oreshould contain before or when grinding is about fifteen to seventeen percent; and this is the quantity which it ordinarily contains as it issold to iron works or when it has been out of the tank for abouttwenty-four hours.

If any free acid or copper exists in the ore, after Washing, a littlelime may be used to neutralize it: this will prevent corrosion of theapparatus for treating the ore.

When these ore blocks are used for making steel, manganese ore may beused in combination with the purple ore, or other suitable substancesused in metallurgical operations in dealing with iron ore, or substancesnot deleterious to the blocks or bricks for the diiferent purposes forwhich they may be used, may be used in combination with it.

It will be understood of course, that the forms in which the blocks areproduced are not confined to rectangular form, as they may be made inany desired or suitable shape.

In the usual way of carrying out this invention, it will be observedthat the blocks and bricks are produced from the purple ore withoutadmixture of any extraneous matters, and without the addition of anywater. By this latter feature, it will be obvious, the evaporation ofwater from the ore which has to be produced is very small, and theresult of this feature, together with the other treatments specified, isthat I am enabled to produce with the plant herein described, a givenweight of bricks or blocks with the use of a very small Weight ofordinary coal, including the burning, and the production of steam usedfor grinding the ore and heating the drying floor.

Having now fully described my invention I declare that what I claim is:

The herein described method ofmaking hard purple-ore blocks or bricks,consisting in grinding under the action of heavy edge runners theordinary dry commercial loose or pulverulent purple ore without theaddition of water or liquid or other extraneous matters, whereby theapparently dry ore is reduced to a state of slurry, then putting theslurry into molds of suitable form for producing bricks or blocks, thendrying the slurry in the molds artificially upon a drying floor until itcan be removed and the bricks or blocks so formed will stand ofthemselves on the floor without breakage, then further drying the bricksor blocks on said floor as turned out of the molds, then further dryingthem in a suitable burning kiln, and then burning them, substantially asset forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

HENRY BIRD.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK JOHN CHEESBROUGH, J. A. COUBROUGH,

Both of 15 T Vater Street, Liverpool.

